Nagabe

Unfortunately this book is all set up (hopefully for something bigger). But is it at least good set up? Yeah, it's pretty decent. The art is wonderful, and in an art style that isn't what you'd expect from a normal manga which helps it stand out in both it's dark parts and wholesome parts. And the story for this volume is also rather wholesome, where you see a monster (called an Outsider) taking care of a small human girl. The catch? They can't touch each other, otherwise the girl will be cursed and turn into a monster. So the Outsider is essentially raising and protecting a child he can have no physical contact with, no matter the reason. Despite this restriction, they seem to have a very wholesome, if physically distant relationship between a surrogate parent or teacher-like adult, and a young girl still in childhood.

Overall, it's a wholesome story thus far with an interesting premise and some mystery to be had, but this volume feels like an elongated chapter 1, or like a short comic you'd get on Free Comic Book Day to give you a taste of an upcoming title, so for that reason alone, I felt like I had to rate it pretty low. I think I just crave more out of first volumes of stories since that's supposed to be the hook that gets you invested in a series overall? But that's not to say I won't pick it up again. I might! But for a volume 1, there's still a lot left to be desired.… (more)